Bertie Ahern,Meeting Blair to assess general political situation in the North
The Taoiseach and the British prime minister will assess the general political situation. They will examine the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, progress towards demilitarisation and the approaching political marching season in the North.
Mr Ahern told the BBC programme Breakfast with Frost that progress had been "very good" on most elements of the Good Friday Agreement in the run-up to its fourth anniversary.
He said that both governments would be monitoring the passage through Westminster of legislation to reform the criminal justice system in the North.
"I think the main thing for us now is to make sure that all of the issues of equality, of progress that were set out in the Agreement, the institutions that are going very well, that we can pace with that.
"There's no elections until May 2003 but what we have been doing the last year or so - and this is our first time this year - is just to go through those issues and make sure things are pressing ahead well.
"From a peaceful point of view, from a progress point of view, there is no extraordinary pressurising points that are creating major difficulties.
"It's more looking at the issues and making sure we can build progress. Around policing is probably the biggest and more difficult one we are still engaged in," said Mr Ahern.
